Did you have to train fetch?

[Laurelin]

Mia seems to have been born knowing to bring the ball back to me. Since she was very small, she's always brought the ball promptly back. That said, we have had to shape a retrieve of other items and it's also turning into a very rewarding game for her. She only naturally seemed to retrieve tennis balls, though.

Summer still doesn't get it but we're working on it. Right now she just chases balls then stops when they do.

 

[Slick]

Mostly no. He retrieved when I got him.

I did reinforce him bringing it all the way to me and dropping it though. Not really "training" per se, but every once in a while in the beginning, Leo thought maybe he would like to start a game of keep away. Nope. Human just became super boring until you bring it back. He learned quickly.

 

[gilles]

Bono (bichon frise) does it but he expects a reward. i had to teach him to do it.
Volka the CAO does it naturally however he fetches not for the fetching part, i throw a toy and he gets it so i can play tug of war with him...he holds a toy from one side and me from the other and he tries to take it from me...i never let him win though.

 

[Sekah]

Yep. We didn't have much natural fetch/ball drive when Cohen was a puppy. I don't really remember what she was like, but she was definitely not toy motivated and preferred to be chased. I shaped the retrieve to hand and now it's pretty much stellar.

Megatron will retrieve to hand while feeling playful. She likes tugging on the ball while you hold it. But it's for all of about 2 minutes before she tires and quits.

 

[Elrohwen]

Yes and no. He is a spaniel and he does have some natural retrieve and a definite desire to carry things around in his mouth. If he wants to keep playing, he will bring the toy back. It was very easy to teach him to pick up an object when I point and he generally doesn't play keep away with it.

The issue is that sometimes he would rather lay down and chew on the toy (like some stuffed toys) or he will get distracted by the environment outdoors. It's like he "knows" how to retrieve in simple situations, but it's not proofed. His toy drive also isn't high enough to compete with the environment for more than 10min or so because sniffing is way more fun than running after a toy.

I always say I'm going to train a retrieve so that I can put that natural instinct together with a solid learned behavior, but I haven't gone far with it.

 

[BostonBanker]

Yes, with Meg, who had no interest in toys.

Gusto will sort of play fetch naturally. I need to spend the time to improve his "back to me immediately" behavior, as he likes frolicking with the ball for 5 minutes first.

 

[Laurelin]

Now we do have environmental issues with Mia's fetch game. At home, she's all out for as long as you want. At training, it can be hit or miss but it is getting better. She likes playing at the park and in the yard but not as much when other dogs are around (like agility). She's finally letting loose and playing though which is exciting.

 

[DJEtzel]

Frag was born knowing how.

Patton's looking like he'll be the same way.

Recon has a good idea, but doesn't always bring it back all the way.

 

[MrsBoats]

Ocean no....he will chase after toys and bring them back to us. That dog lives to chase a ball.

Lars...he will go out and get a thrown toy, but he doesn't always bring them back. He earned the name "Lars - Party of One" from one of my agility teachers. That's where we learned that toys thrown at Lars as a reward on an agility course never came back to me...he would take off with them and charge all over the place. LOL Formal retrieves...no problem. Toys, forget it! LOL

 

[casey82]

Hunter is a fantasic retriever. He's better then the retrievers I grew up with. Though he does tend to drop things just in front of me. We're working on holding and delivering to hand.

 

[krissy]

Sighthounds. 'nuff said. lol.

Yeah, I absolutely had to train a retrieve. Summit wouldn't even touch a toy when I got him. Kili has a bit more of a retrieve instinct but I haven't really taught her a formal retrieve yet so she doesn't always bring it back. I might spend the time to do that this summer.

 

[RBark]

Pris fetched almost from the day she arrived.

The snow dogs.... No lol. They dont know what retrieve is.

Syl, unsure. She has fetched a few times but I think only coincidentally.

 

[Oko]

Feist pretty much came bringing stuff back, but we have worked on it for her to bring it back all the way to me/my hand. I can't say I really purposefully trained it, basically it was 'if you want that thrown you better bring it here, otherwise you can drop it five feet away from me all day and it ain't happening.' haha.

 

[Linds]

It's interesting reading these. It's so funny that so many people think fetch is just ingrained in all dogs and that when they get a dog that doesn't immediately get it so many don't look at it as a training issue, it's just obviously the dog is broken and will never fetch.

Traveler had a natural retrieve in the sense that he liked to chase it young and he would kinda bring it back. As he grew his retrieve and drive grew with him and it became his favorite thing. But, I never had really dealt with training a nice solid 'bring it all the way to me' and was so lax on my criteria. So now he has a great retrieve for toys, but he only brings it within a few feet of me, drops and backs up really fast to stare it into moving.

We're getting better with disc work since his tug drive is increasing and he's brought it to my hand a few times without waiting or prompting.

Didgie didn't have a retrieve as a puppy, luckily she has a ton of drive and a lot of fight in her so it was really easy to teach a retrieve to hand with her. I just made her understand that when she brought it to my hand we played a ton of tug but if she didn't bring it back to me and I got to it before her it was ALL mine.

She plotted my death for awhile after that but then decided I was worth keeping around to tug with.

Her retrieve is great though, she'll pretty much bring me anything I ask for or things I don't ask for like yesterday when she brought me my five pound hand weights to play with.

 

[Dogdragoness]

I did with Josefina, but once she realized how self rewarding it was, she was hooked! Lol

Bear was a natural fetcher ... He just needed to be taught to being the ball back. To do that when he would play keep away with it I would just leave ... He had no interest in playing if someone wasn't throwing it lol.

 

[Beanie]

Auggie naturally chases after something you throw, and he'll bring it back, but not always ALL the way back. In fact, he likes to bring it back to JUST out of your reach and then drop it and then smile at you, because he is a jerk.

Payton will chase stuff and he might bring it back for a game of tug - but he also might fling himself on the ground and play with it by himself.

Pepper is Pepper so she doesn't play much. Sometimes when she's in the mood to play, she'll run after the ball but not grab it - this is mostly because when she played at her old house, it was with the whole crew, so she knew another dog was going to grab it and didn't want to fight for it. Other times, if she knows she's the only one involved in the game, she'll happily go get it AND bring it all the way back.


All that said, I don't really care to bother teaching Payton or Auggie to reliably bring the toy all the way back. Fetch is just not high on my list of "stuff my dog must do well."

 

[Laurelin]

Traveler had a natural retrieve in the sense that he liked to chase it young and he would kinda bring it back. As he grew his retrieve and drive grew with him and it became his favorite thing. But, I never had really dealt with training a nice solid 'bring it all the way to me' and was so lax on my criteria. So now he has a great retrieve for toys, but he only brings it within a few feet of me, drops and backs up really fast to stare it into moving.

Mia does that some. She gets a little overly excited and drops the ball just out of reach then rushes off to crouch and stare (and then bark at me for not throwing it). Now I just say 'It's too far' and she runs back and drops it closer. Annoyingly she usually drops it milimeters closer. Rinse/repeat until the ball finally ends up next to me. It can be a loud process though.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Yup, I did basically train it. He didn't really have a desire to fetch much besides in the house a few times down the hall. But now he plays fetch, and will go fetch a ball when I use the Chuck It and fling it as far as I can, even in 'unknown' places or new places, which he NEVER used to do. It's really awesome because I can give him so much more exercise now, on days when I just don't have the time to do long walks etc.


But it took a bit of time, and since he's so food motivated, I did reward him with treats for bringing the ball back. I still keep treats with me, and will usually reward him 50% of the time for bringing it back now, just to reinforce that I am glad he's having fun, but most of the time he does it just because it's fun now.

I had him on a long line and would throw it (not very far) and softly tug on the leash a bit if he seemed to forget, and he wouldn't get a treat unless he brought the ball back to me. Then we started longer distances. He also watched my uncles dog fetch with the chuckit and something about having the chuckit brings out a lot of excitement in him, moreso than if I'm just throwing it with my hands. He's not *perfect* now, he doesn't usually drop it at my feet or anything, but he brings it pretty darn close, and close enough, and he really has a lot of fun playing now which is GREAT.

 

[Shai]

Kim: Yes, though she did chase the toy naturally so just had to train bringing it back.

Webster: Yes, every single step.

Mira: No. I threw a toy a few days after she came home, she grabbed it and brought it back, I praised heavily and threw it again and she was locked in. Just had to train the formal aspects needed for competition.

Lodin: TBD but I threw the Mr. Flappy for him this morning and he ran after it, tackled it, and ran back to my lap five times in a row before I quit while he was still wanting more. So that bodes well.

 

[Fran101]

Nope.
He arrived knowing how to play fetch, although I did have to train "drop" or else he would bring it back and then want to play tug with whatever it was :rofl1: